This year, my graduate research in the UConn Department of Geography has focused on the vulnerability of Martha’s Vineyard to climate-related hazards like sea level rise and hurricanes. Using ArcGIS’ 3D Analyst, I have created a triangulated irregular network (TIN) to visualize elevation, which you can see above. I generated this model from contour lines (3 meter intervals), which I downloaded from MassGIS. Those of you familiar with the island will notice that this data, from 2005, does not show the breach of Norton Point Beach, which occurred most recently in 2007. For climate related happenings in the Cape Cod and Islands region, check out Climatide- a blog from the Cape and Islands NPR station (WCAI) and authored by Dr. Heather Goldstone.

In a follow-up to the release of the supplemental poverty measure report, the New York Times commissioned the Census Bureau to create a special tabulation based on the measure, and as a service to other users we are posting this tabulation online. The statistics focus on the characteristics of the population just above the poverty line (100 to 150 percent of the poverty threshold). The supplemental poverty measure does not replace the official poverty measure but is intended to better reflect contemporary social and economic realities and government policy effects and thus provide a further understanding of economic conditions and trends. Internet address:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/povmeas/methodology/supplemental/research.html.

Special supplemental poverty measure tabulation: 
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/CB11-TPS.51SpecTab.pdf [PDF]
Supplemental poverty measure report: 
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/news_conferences/2011-11-04_spm_webinar.html.
Official poverty measure: 
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb11-157.html.

In the U.S., Mercury, which is toxic to brain development, is commonly emitted into the atmosphere.

Do you live near a Mercury Hotspot? I originally saw this map, which is based on a recent report from Environmental America, on Mother Jones. Although Mercury is toxic to us (it negatively affects brain development), it is commonly emitted into the air by industry. In the United States, 2/3 of the emissions are from coal fired power plants alone.

For more on locating pollution in the U.S., check out our other posts:
NPR and the Center for Public Integrity Investigate Poisoned Places of the U.S.
Are Toxic Chemicals Being Released Near You?

A screenshot of languages used on Twitter in the Americas.

Since its inception, social media has spread rapidly. One of the most globalized products is Twitter, which allows users to send out short messages to followers. It is estimated that users send out approximately 200 million of these messages a day. Being such a globalized product, the languages spoken by users includes much more than just English, as you can see in the map screenshots below (the full map is available on Flickr).

A screenshot languages used on Twitter in Europe and Asia.

The Legend for the map.